Another one bites the dust

I understand that Aqua Club has dropped out of YSA. Smart move. YSA only cares about fields, as far as I am concerned. What about Ice Hockey? Are they in YSA? Or is that another group ready to jump ship? So much for the YSA proposal for Middle and Wildcat Fields.

I see that Tuesday's Commission Discussion Session agenda has been published. Let me guess. Update on Robb Hollow athletic field proposal will probably turn into a discussion about artificial turf. Fifteen minutes has been allotted for the discussion.

A related topic on the agenda is the Joint Maintenance Agreement. Discussion of joint maintenance agreement. Fifteen minutes for this one too. Hey, maybe the school board directors allocated a couple of minutes of their ever popular community coffees to some commissioners so that they could discuss the JMA. With groups dropping out of YSA, I don't see how MTLSD is going to be able to collect from YSA. Maybe a lawsuit is in order. That always seems to be SOP when things don't sit well with the school board.

SOS

Monday's school board meeting agenda has been posted. Same old... "Typical for this time of year."

Oct. 8, 2012 School Board Discussion Meeting agenda


The shell game continues.

Ratification of June 30, 2012 List of Budgetary Transfers – The list of budgetary transfers to close the books on June 30, 2012 is required by law. It is a lengthy list totaling $2,435,420 and reflects transfers from and to budgetary accounts which have or need additional funding. Last year the list totaled $1,685,433. The superintendent recommends approval of this list.

Audit Report for Year Ending June 30, 2012 – Annually, the independent audit firm, Maher Duessel, CPAs, completes a financial audit of the District financial records. A draft of the audit report will be presented and reviewed by Amy Lewis, CPA and Dave Duessel, CPA. The final audit report will be complete for Board action at the October 15, 2012 meeting. The superintendent recommends approval and acceptance of the report.

More change orders, of course.

Change Orders for High School Project – This month there are a number of change orders for the Board to consider.

a. #PL-02-11 for $2,189 to Vrabel Plumbing for temporary water to B building for asbestos abatement when water lines were offline during construction.

b. #PL-03-12 for ($19,776) to Vrabel Plumbing to credit the District for reusing rain conductors rather than replacing them since the current ones are in good condition.

c. #AB-01-13 for $12,828 to Precision for Asbestos abatement to an unforeseen area hidden in the wall in a shaft. 

d. #FP-01-14 for $3,593 to Simplex Grinnell for temporary work required for Fire Department regulations to keep building B open while we are occupied during phasing.

e. #IN-01-02 for $5,866 to Farfield Electric for the balance of the cost of the temporary generators as part of the large insurance claim. This will be covered by insurance and will be a deduct change order once the final accounting for the claim is complete.

The total cost of all these change orders is $4,700. These have been reviewed by the architect, construction manager, Rick Marciniak and Jan Klein. The superintendent recommends them for approval.

I hope they did the math correctly this time.

And finally, for discussion:

1. Feasibility Study – The Board will discuss the Feasibility Study that was presented by Pursuant Ketchum.

2. Strategic Plan – The Board will hear a presentation regarding the District’s Strategic Planning efforts.

Obviously, the Board will be sharing all the topics that were discussed at their three coffees. The feasibility study has been a hot topic here. "Direct and supervise the completion of the District’s Strategic plan", Tim Steinhauer's Number Two goal, was delegated to a facilitator and committee.  Our tax dollars at work.

Did we pass the Ketchup?

Pursuant Ketchum was scheduled to present the results of the Feasibility Study at 7 p.m. on Monday, September 17, 2012. There is no mention of the presentation on the District website. The agenda and two policy revisions have been posted.

Agenda

Revisions to Policy DJA, Purchasing Authority

Revisions to Policy FEG, Construction Contracts

I do hope this is an oversight, as the Feasibility Study results would make for good conversation at the Community Coffee scheduled for September 18 from 7-8:30 p.m. at The Coffee Tree Roasters on Beverly Road.  Scott Goldman, Bill Cooper, Dale Ostergaard and Jo Posti will be present to have an informal conversation about issues such as spending $41,000 plus travel expenses to fund the study. A little background information: PK was hired to give us a green light, yellow light, or red light to predict the success of raising $30 million $15 million to reduce the need for a second bond issue for the high school renovation to set up an endowment.

Coffee with the Manager

Tomorrow, May 15, have coffee with municipal manager, Steve Feller.  Steve will be at Uptown Coffee on Washington Road from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and 7 to 8:30 p.m. Ask him questions, or discuss anything.

Only two showed up for a cuppa Jo?

Updated the Google Doc link

In an article written by Deana Carpenter For The Almanac, there were only two community members who met with Josephine Posti, Scott Goldman, and Dale Ostergaard. Mt. Lebanon seeks community input (Updated copy to include priceless comments saved in Google Docs) I received zero feedback for this blog about the first meeting where Posti and company made an attempt to reach out to the community.  I thought people were just being shy, but it was a situation where the board members outnumbered the community members. Two mothers of children who attend Lincoln Elementary School, attended the coffee and raised the same concerns that were raised here on Lebo Citizens. As discussed in the article, one of their concerns included the MLEA grievance, a subject that the Board refuses to include in next year's budget and could be an issue for the next twenty years. That fact is only brought up by Dale Ostergaard, time and time again. Posti always seems to forget that part.

Another topic for discussion was the unanimous vote for the feasibility study. Funny thing about the feasibility study.  The money was taken out of this year's budget because it was available. But in "The List" versions 1.0 and 2.0, $40,000 is listed Above The Line (ATL) to reduce consulting fees. Were consulting fees ever listed in the budget previously? And again, no mention of our secret admirer willing to pay for 25% of that study.  Sounds to me like they backed out, don't you?

Finally, the community members were concerned about cuts that were on the table affecting the elementary schools, specifically Lincoln.  Is this when 4,000 people, including former school board directors, say, "I told you" to the school board?

The kicker was this quote in The Almanac:

Posti said that in a short period of time she has heard a lot of positive feedback from members of the community. "There are a lot of exciting things happening in the district that we see people are enthusiastic about."

Enthusiastic? Where were your supporters, Josephine? A commissioner was booked solid at her coffee at Orbis Café. Are you getting the message that we are pretty disgusted with the Board's actions?